In the above-noted regular patent application, a unique product was identified. It provided bite-sized pieces of optimally-baked potato retaining the taste and texture of both the skin and pulp portions. The product exhibits a fully-baked potato flavor, texture and aroma, and it can be prepared simply for serving in any portion size with a minimum of effort. The texture of the product will include a characteristic dry, fluffy, mealy texture for the pulp on the interior of the potato and will have skin attached to unmashed pulp of the potato. The pulp will offer some resistance to the bite but will quickly become smooth like mashed potatoes when masticated. During baking, the peel (also sometimes referred to as a skin) is dried along with a layer of directly underlying pulp (e.g., extending up to 5 mm). This drying is necessary to the optimum flavor development and adds a desirable texture to the final product. In the preferred product form, the skin can be made more tender than directly after baking.
As described in the related application, the potato product is stored in frozen form and is desirably prepared for serving by heating in a microwave oven. The heating process not only heats the product but fills the air with the aroma of baked potatoes.
The products have a mealy, but not mushy, pulp portion when heated. It is cohesive to the extent that it can support its own weight, but it is not strong. Indeed, tests surprisingly revealed that the product cannot survive frying in hot oil or tossing when attempting to fry on a griddle or skillet. The starch-containing cells are ruptured during baking, and rapid moisture generation and physical handling during frying cause pieces to break apart.
Potato flavors and aromas depend on the processing. The process of baking potatoes creates a number of different kinds of flavors and textures, some of which are explained and quantified in the above-identified application. Frying potatoes provides a whole other group of flavors and textures. The inventors herein have sought a potato product that has baked as well as fried flavors. There is currently no such product. It is noted that U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,588 to Willard has attempted to provide a product having baked flavor that can be fried, but makes a product called “fabricated”. The process can start with a baking step, but following that all semblance of a baked potato is largely undone. The fabricated products of Willard are processed and diluted to an extent that both the texture and flavor of the baked potato used in their preparation is significantly degraded. Willard describes processes A though D, and illustrates them in FIGS. 1 through 4, respectively. Common to all are process steps calling for: (1) separation of pulp and peel, (2) comminuting the pulp portion, (3) drying the pulp portion to below 65%, (4) mixing potato flakes and other additives with the pulp to form a dough, (5) shaping the dough to form fabricated potato pieces, and (6) eliminating or separately preparing a fabricated peel portion.
To achieve the objective of obtaining such a product, it was attempted to fry a fully-baked product as described in the noted application. However, identification of suitable processing was beset with problems regardless of care taken to avoid destruction of the integrity of the product by frying techniques commonly employed by industry and at home.
The baked product prior to frying has already been fully cooked, broken into individual bite-sized pieces and frozen. When this product starts to warm as part of the frying process, the pulpy part of the potato softens disproportionally with the skin portion, making the product difficult to handle without breaking. In addition, the pulpy portion has virtually no unruptured pulp cells and can rapidly evolve steam, causing break down with significant disintegration upon deep frying. The effects of frying are detrimental to both the shape and texture of the potato pieces. In addition, the potato pieces released fines when fried, and this resulted in early contamination of the frying oil.
There is a present need to enable production of bite-sized pieces of optimally baked potato in a form suitable for frozen distribution and final preparation by frying in oil or on a griddle or skillet.